So for the uninformed, purchase-it-on-a-whim, mass of people,...
I'd quite like to see statistics differentiating between people who bought their own iPods and those who got given them as a gift or promotion. I bet that coming up to Christmas every year this conversation happens in many homes:
Granny: Now, Alice, what would you like for Christmas? Alice: I'd like something to play MP3s on, Granny. Granny: What do you mean? Alice: An MP3 player, Granny. Granny: I'm sorry, I don't understand. Alice: An iPod, Granny. Granny: Oh, yes, I've heard of those.
Add to that the thousands of iPods given away to "Employees of the Month" etc., and you have a pretty good turnover from brand recognition alone; none of these purchasers are actually going to use the machine themselves so they buy a middle-of-the-road product that will satisfy the majority, even if it is lacking in specific capabilities the actual end user might like to have.
Weren't there rumours at least of slave labour building iPods in the far East? They certainly couldn't cut the bottom line any lower than that, so the high prices must be a function of corporate greed.
Only when you copy them over using iTunes, then you can only copy them back off on a computer that is "authorised" for that iPod. That is, if you actually want to listen to them - you can freely copy them back and forth from any computer in "data mode", but you can't actually listen to them if you do that.
I suspect you'll find it's on both. It's much cheaper to put a recorded message on an existing number than it is to search for every occurrence of an old number and replace it.
You obviously didn't get the mailshot explaining their "rationalisations". For the last three weeks I was with them, at least, a call to one of those numbers just got a 'phone tree leading to a recorded message asking you to call the new "support centre" number. They just didn't want to reprint all the stationery.
It's a common practice here. I often suspect the shadier ISPs of bringing their DNS servers down for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon just for the flurry of premium-rate 'phone calls it nets them.
Plus Net were one of the few that had a "normal" 'phone number staffed by tech-savvy people who could usually help you in seconds. As this was obviously a net drain on resources, they decided to turn tech support into a net earner by hiring a premium rate call cantre, then giving them a "script" to work from designed to take as long as possible to get to the point where they admitted they didn't know what was wrong and escalated your call to one of the few remaining tech staff. (Or, increasingly frequently, dropping the line as they tried to transfer you thus forcing you to go through the whole thing again)
It's a pretty sad state of affairs. I used to be with Plus Net, and they used to be really good. I dropped their service when they sacked a lot of their technical guys and hired a premium-rate call centre to handle their technical queries through a very s...l...o...w... script instead of just talking to you on an ordinary national-rate 'phone line to talk to someone who actually knew what was going on. The guys in the call centre used to look at the same web page as I did to find out if there were any problems.
But the most impressive thing about the article remains the idea that they closed their webmail service, and then emailed their users to tell them...
If Firefox used Google to check the URLs being requested, it could display the page you wanted while blocking the iFrames, banners etc. that come from malware-bearing domains. It would slow down browsing, but for a naive user it would greatly increase security.
How would you communicate with those people? (Email is really the only practical different option for the university.)
Until they lock down all the computer rooms so nobody can pick up their email...
(Forgive me for replying to a quote from your message, Dave; it just seemed like the best place to put the response...)
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
on
The End is Nigh for XP
·
· Score: 1
...why should we stick to fucking Wine (MS Libs ersatz) when we could use the original MS libraries on top of Linux, like parallels does with Macs.
I don't know, why should we? Sheer bloody ignorance, perhaps?
If you had ever read the docs for Wine you would know that you have the option to use the Linux-native API, install a subset of Windows DLLs or install a full working copy of Windows under Wine. Only the first option is legal without a Windows license.
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
on
The End is Nigh for XP
·
· Score: 1
I was well $crewed by that; it was one of the things that finally forced me to dump Micro$oft in favour of SuSE.
I had been downloading a DVD.iso image via FTP; the site was throttled badly for dial-up users, and the download was going to take four or five days. "No problem", thought I, "Windows 2000 is stable; I'll just leave the machine on till it's done."
Except that 3 days into it I went to bed, and when I got up in the morning the machine had downloaded a patch in the night and rebooted without giving me any option to ignore it. The ftp was not resumable. B*st*rds.
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
on
The End is Nigh for XP
·
· Score: 1
It all depends what you want to use your machine for.
For example, if you're a "creative type" you could spend £1,000s on all the latest packages from Adobe (Macromedia) or you could just download a Linux distro that has the same functionality such as the upcoming Ubuntu Studio (http://www.ubuntustudio.org) and spend the cash on hardware that's twice as fast to run it on...;-D
My mother is 80 and I put her on Linux two Christmases ago. It was her first PC so she had nothing to "unlearn".
I get emails from her twice a week, and her first problem has just arisen in a year-and-a-half: she's getting warnings that her system clock is wrong! I guess that even Linux boxes need the occasional battery change...;-)
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
on
The End is Nigh for XP
·
· Score: 1
Eventually, as it always happens, there will be bug releases and new drivers for Windows Vista. Upgrading to them is as easily as doing "Windows Update." Linux (and BSD) distros will never be this easily patched due to the very nature of being open source. I only have to go to 1 web site to update my PC's - Windows Update - and it's incredibly simple - just click on Update and voila, it's done and everything works.
I use OpenSUSE, which is supplied by Novell and includes a copy of their "Zenworks" updater. An icon on my taskbar changes when software updates are available - just like windows. When I click on it, it gives a list of the available updates and asks me if I want to install them - just like Windows. Then it checks to see that none of the updates will conflict before installing them. And it works. So, not entirely like Windows, then...
I was going to post that XP Home might not be eligible for a free upgrade, but on checking the page I notice that not only is it supported, but it has acquired a 5-year "extended support" period since last I looked. It used to be deemed ineligible for extended support because it wasn't a "Business product" but that seems to have changed since the last time I checked, just before Christmas. Weird.
Why not spend Matt Damon's salary on giving James Cawley (http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/) acting lessons? It could only benefit the Trek universe as a whole...:-)
Actually, there's SuSE and OpenSuSE. You're freely allowed to copy OpenSuSE, but they only employ professional support staff to support the paid SeSE. OpenSuSE users have to rely on other users finding the solution to their problems and posting it on the support forums. When you're a business that makes a difference.
Now, it's possible that he was lazy and just dumped an article he was paid for straight into his BLOG, but it's equally likely the screenshot was faked using data that was already out there.:-/
...The impersonal nature of online ads are very different than the one-on-one personalized service that radio advertising normally uses....
Isn't that completely the wrong way round? The whole point of Google's online ads are that they're personalised on a per-user basis, while radio ads have to use the "shotgun effect".:-/
Slashdot Mirror
I'd quite like to see statistics differentiating between people who bought their own iPods and those who got given them as a gift or promotion. I bet that coming up to Christmas every year this conversation happens in many homes:
Granny: Now, Alice, what would you like for Christmas?
Alice: I'd like something to play MP3s on, Granny.
Granny: What do you mean?
Alice: An MP3 player, Granny.
Granny: I'm sorry, I don't understand.
Alice: An iPod, Granny.
Granny: Oh, yes, I've heard of those.
Add to that the thousands of iPods given away to "Employees of the Month" etc., and you have a pretty good turnover from brand recognition alone; none of these purchasers are actually going to use the machine themselves so they buy a middle-of-the-road product that will satisfy the majority, even if it is lacking in specific capabilities the actual end user might like to have.
Weren't there rumours at least of slave labour building iPods in the far East? They certainly couldn't cut the bottom line any lower than that, so the high prices must be a function of corporate greed.
Only when you copy them over using iTunes, then you can only copy them back off on a computer that is "authorised" for that iPod. That is, if you actually want to listen to them - you can freely copy them back and forth from any computer in "data mode", but you can't actually listen to them if you do that.
Unless, of course, you install Rockbox. http://www.rockbox.org/
I use a 4th generation iPod Photo running Rockbox. I can play "Doom" on it too... ;-)
http://www.rockbox.org/
Pipex used to be superb, but nowadays they're just competent; nothing special, and a little pricey.
I suspect you'll find it's on both. It's much cheaper to put a recorded message on an existing number than it is to search for every occurrence of an old number and replace it.
You obviously didn't get the mailshot explaining their "rationalisations". For the last three weeks I was with them, at least, a call to one of those numbers just got a 'phone tree leading to a recorded message asking you to call the new "support centre" number. They just didn't want to reprint all the stationery.
It's a common practice here. I often suspect the shadier ISPs of bringing their DNS servers down for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon just for the flurry of premium-rate 'phone calls it nets them.
Plus Net were one of the few that had a "normal" 'phone number staffed by tech-savvy people who could usually help you in seconds. As this was obviously a net drain on resources, they decided to turn tech support into a net earner by hiring a premium rate call cantre, then giving them a "script" to work from designed to take as long as possible to get to the point where they admitted they didn't know what was wrong and escalated your call to one of the few remaining tech staff. (Or, increasingly frequently, dropping the line as they tried to transfer you thus forcing you to go through the whole thing again)
That's the main reason I dropped their service.
It's a pretty sad state of affairs. I used to be with Plus Net, and they used to be really good. I dropped their service when they sacked a lot of their technical guys and hired a premium-rate call centre to handle their technical queries through a very s...l...o...w... script instead of just talking to you on an ordinary national-rate 'phone line to talk to someone who actually knew what was going on. The guys in the call centre used to look at the same web page as I did to find out if there were any problems.
But the most impressive thing about the article remains the idea that they closed their webmail service, and then emailed their users to tell them...
If Firefox used Google to check the URLs being requested, it could display the page you wanted while blocking the iFrames, banners etc. that come from malware-bearing domains. It would slow down browsing, but for a naive user it would greatly increase security.
Until they lock down all the computer rooms so nobody can pick up their email...
(Forgive me for replying to a quote from your message, Dave; it just seemed like the best place to put the response...)
I don't know, why should we? Sheer bloody ignorance, perhaps?
If you had ever read the docs for Wine you would know that you have the option to use the Linux-native API, install a subset of Windows DLLs or install a full working copy of Windows under Wine. Only the first option is legal without a Windows license.
5.01, please! 5.0 was bugged...
I'm in the middle of installing Quake 4 - isn't that what you would consider a "videogame"?
As for the video editing, keep your eye on http://www.ubuntustudio.org/
I was well $crewed by that; it was one of the things that finally forced me to dump Micro$oft in favour of SuSE.
.iso image via FTP; the site was throttled badly for dial-up users, and the download was going to take four or five days. "No problem", thought I, "Windows 2000 is stable; I'll just leave the machine on till it's done."
I had been downloading a DVD
Except that 3 days into it I went to bed, and when I got up in the morning the machine had downloaded a patch in the night and rebooted without giving me any option to ignore it. The ftp was not resumable. B*st*rds.
It all depends what you want to use your machine for.
;-D
For example, if you're a "creative type" you could spend £1,000s on all the latest packages from Adobe (Macromedia) or you could just download a Linux distro that has the same functionality such as the upcoming Ubuntu Studio (http://www.ubuntustudio.org) and spend the cash on hardware that's twice as fast to run it on...
My mother is 80 and I put her on Linux two Christmases ago. It was her first PC so she had nothing to "unlearn".
;-)
I get emails from her twice a week, and her first problem has just arisen in a year-and-a-half: she's getting warnings that her system clock is wrong! I guess that even Linux boxes need the occasional battery change...
I use OpenSUSE, which is supplied by Novell and includes a copy of their "Zenworks" updater. An icon on my taskbar changes when software updates are available - just like windows. When I click on it, it gives a list of the available updates and asks me if I want to install them - just like Windows. Then it checks to see that none of the updates will conflict before installing them. And it works. So, not entirely like Windows, then...
Right now you can go to Amazon and buy a new copy of Windows 2000, so I'd guess the answer's a tentative "no"...
True, but remember that the more software that eventually runs on your platform, the more people who are likely to adopt it.
I was going to post that XP Home might not be eligible for a free upgrade, but on checking the page I notice that not only is it supported, but it has acquired a 5-year "extended support" period since last I looked. It used to be deemed ineligible for extended support because it wasn't a "Business product" but that seems to have changed since the last time I checked, just before Christmas. Weird.
Why not spend Matt Damon's salary on giving James Cawley (http://www.startreknewvoyages.com/) acting lessons? It could only benefit the Trek universe as a whole... :-)
Actually, there's SuSE and OpenSuSE. You're freely allowed to copy OpenSuSE, but they only employ professional support staff to support the paid SeSE. OpenSuSE users have to rely on other users finding the solution to their problems and posting it on the support forums. When you're a business that makes a difference.
The third screenshot is of an article that was published by Glickman in "Variety":
c ategoryid=9&cs=1
:-/
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117931921.html?
Now, it's possible that he was lazy and just dumped an article he was paid for straight into his BLOG, but it's equally likely the screenshot was faked using data that was already out there.
Isn't that completely the wrong way round? The whole point of Google's online ads are that they're personalised on a per-user basis, while radio ads have to use the "shotgun effect".